▲ Research has shown that proteins in wheat can cause inflammation and worsen the symptoms of multiple sclerosis. (Photo = DB)
[메디컬투데이=최재백 기자] It has been shown that the proteins in wheat can cause inflammation and worsen the symptoms of multiple sclerosis.
The results of research published in “Gut” demonstrate that the protein contained in wheat can cause inflammation and worsen the symptoms of multiple sclerosis (MS).
MS is an autoimmune disease of the nervous system in which immune cells attack the myelin surrounding nerve cells and the nerve cell bodies of the central nervous system. As the signal transmission of nerve cells in the body slows, it can cause symptoms such as muscle weakness, difficulty walking and moving, numbness and pain, difficulty urinating and defecating, fatigue, visual disturbances and depression.
Recently, a research team at Johannes Gutenberg Universität Mainz in Germany observed that MS symptoms can be worsened by inflammation caused by immune cells.
The research team fed female mice with experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE), an animal model for multiple sclerosis, a diet (GAF diet) that contained no gluten and the trypsin amylase inhibitor (ATI) for 4 weeks.
They then divided the mice into three groups: the first group (GA diet group) received a diet supplemented with gluten (5.5% dry weight) and ATI (0.165% dry weight), and the second group (G diet group) received a diet supplemented with gluten (5.5% dry weight). A third group (diet group A) received a diet supplemented with ATI (0.15% dry weight). The mice’s daily intake of gluten and ATI was set at the same amount as a standard Western diet.
The research team induced EAE in mice after completing a GAF diet for 4 weeks and 2 days before dividing the mice into three groups. As a result, the group of mice that consumed the most ATI had the highest central nervous system (CNS) inflammation and EAE symptoms. He explained that it looked bad.
They then added that when ATI was administered to monocytes of patients with MS and people without MS, chemokines and inflammatory cytokines were secreted, whereas gluten alone did not cause an inflammatory response.
ATI is a protein found in wheat, and the research team predicted that if inflammation occurs in the gut due to ATI, the inflammation could spread to the central nervous system and worsen MS symptoms.
The research team said that although it is known that gluten in many grains, including wheat, can cause celiac disease, a serious autoimmune disease, other proteins in wheat besides gluten can cause severe inflammation or allergic reactions. . .
Notably, unlike the gluten protein that causes celiac disease, ATI has the effect of promoting the innate immune response, such as the activation of macrophages and dendritic cells.
Therefore, the chronic inflammatory disease caused by the ATI protein contained in wheat rather than gluten is called “non-celiac gluten sensitivity”.
Furthermore, in a separate study, the research team divided 16 patients with relapsing-remitting MS into two groups, one group that followed a diet with a 90% reduced grain content and the other group that followed a containing grain for three months. After three months, the two groups switched diets and continued eating them for another three months.
The results of the study showed that during the period in which a low-wheat diet was administered, the level of inflammatory immune cells in the participants’ blood was lower and the pain level was significantly lower than when they followed a regular diet.
The research team hypothesized that patients with more severe MS symptoms would have a greater effect on inflammation from a wheat/ATI diet and that a wheat-free diet could help reduce the severity of MS and other inflammatory diseases .
Meanwhile, experts pointed out that it is unclear whether reducing ATI wheat or protein intake can relieve MS patients’ symptoms. In other words, it is difficult to recommend that MS patients not eat wheat based on this study alone, and it is necessary to understand how important the ATI protein is in worsening MS symptoms in human MS patients.
However, the research team said that, based on research data and actual clinical experience, it recommends reducing wheat intake for patients with autoimmune diseases, including MS.
Medical Today reporter Jaebaek Choi (jaebaekchoi@naver.com)
[저작권자ⓒ 메디컬투데이. 무단전재-재배포 금지]
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